


Melinda May's betrayal

by InsaneNerdGirl



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-03
Updated: 2014-04-03
Packaged: 2018-01-18 02:12:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1411132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsaneNerdGirl/pseuds/InsaneNerdGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Melinda May has betrayed the team... betrayed Coulson.<br/>Angsty one-shot<br/>Set after 1x16, but ignoring the end where the bus is being flown off by somebody else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Melinda May's betrayal

**Author's Note:**

> Okay I seriously suck at titles... but there we have it.  
> I hope you all enjoy!  
> Please leave reviews and tell me how I did.

May couldn’t meet his eyes when he snapped the handcuffs on her wrists, nor did she fight him when he dragged her to the holding cell. Only after he’d flung her in did she look at him. “Please Phil…” she said softly. “It’s not what you think it is.”  
Her only answer was the door closing in her face and the sound of it locking behind him. She stood where she was for a moment, eyes closed, fighting back the emotions that were doing their best to clog up her throat and burn from her eyes.  
Finally she made her way over to the table and sat down on one of the chairs, resting her arms on the table. There was nothing left to do but wait.

 

Phil Coulson was not a man who cried easily; not really. He was the one who remained cool and calm and composed under pressure, both emotional and physical.  
But this was too much. Melinda May… his partner… someone up until an hour ago he would have called his closest friend… had betrayed him.  
He walked into his office, the place where (hopefully) nobody could disturb him and sat down at his desk, resting his arms on its smooth surface. He stared at his hands, surprisingly not-shaking, all things considered, refusing to look anywhere else in the room.  
If he did he would feel May’s presence; all the times they had come in here and talked; all the times she had come to him when he needed to hash out his fears and reservations. All the times she had comforted him… they had all been a lie.  
And so he stared at his hands and tried to ignore the truth of what had just happened.

 

She was unsurprised when it was Ward who entered the holding cell next. His eyes were large and sad, true windows to his soul, because every other inch of him was stoic and cold. His jaw was set and his step confident, but only when looking at his eyes did she know he didn’t like what he had to do.  
He sat down across from her and waited for a moment. She did not release him from her searching gaze.  
“Agent May,” he said at last. “I know full well that your training would prevent any normal interrogation methods from getting you to tell me anything, so I am asking you as your teammate… as your friend: Who are you reporting to.”  
She did not look away, but neither did she respond.  
He sighed and stood up, walking towards the opposite wall. “I had to report to Agent Hand what we found out about you.” He paused, his back towards her. “I’m sorry May… but I have no choice. I have to follow orders.”  
Melinda allowed her lips to quirk into a small smile. Yes… she knew what it was to have to follow orders.  
He sat down in the chair in the wall and strapped himself in. She knew what was coming next, and she knew it wouldn’t work. “Fitz…” he said towards the hidden camera, a hint of emotion in his voice.  
She smiled sadly, wondering if the young scientist would have any hesitation in doing this… after she had hunted him down and shot at him, even if it was just with an ICEr.  
The ceiling was already sliding open above her head, and the hundred mph wind lifted her from the chair. She had preemptively grasped the table as well as she could, but it wasn’t enough.  
She grunted in the effort to hang on. “Ward please…” she panted out at last. “I can’t… tell you! Not now!”  
A small tired smile crossed his face. “I know…” he acknowledged.  
She closed her eyes and concentrated on just hanging on, but her fingers were already aching as the wind howled past her, lifting her in its deadly force. She couldn’t hold on forever, but neither could she tell them her secret.  
And then she made her decision; the only decision left that she could make. She opened her eyes and frowned slightly as she saw the expression on Ward’s face, but brushed it from her thoughts as unimportant. “Tell Coulson… tell everybody… I’m sorry,” she said.  
And then she let go.

 

They didn’t have a funeral for weeks. By the time they had a moment for a funeral everything had come into the light; Victoria Hand’s schemes… The Clairvoyant… the traitor in their midst… everything; including May’s innocence.  
They never found a body… so all they had to bury was an empty box. Phil cried over it, berating himself for not believing her. She hadn’t betrayed him. She truly had been trying to protect him. He had fallen into the pit of lies and deceit SHIELD had woven around him, and had lost his closest friend because he hadn’t believed her when she was trying to protect him from it. And she had died knowing he didn’t believe her… died knowing that he thought she had betrayed him. The knowledge hurt more than when Loki’s scepter had pierced his heart.  
After the box was buried and everybody else had gone home Phil was still standing there, staring at the newly disturbed dirt before him.  
“I’m sorry Melinda.”


End file.
